Category: Charles Manson

The Theory Of Charles Manson To Be A Psycho

In the book “Charles Manson” by Andy Koopmans, it tells how Charles Manson was a troubled child and spent a lot of time in institutions and prison. He wasn’t raised to fight but grew up to be the most notorious serial killer in America. His mother was a single mom, she abandoned Charles at 12, she was in and out of jail for small crimes. He also was raised by his grandparents, but it was temporary. This is about his long life, mainly spent in prison.

Charles Manson was born on November 14th 1934, in Cincinnati Ohio. His mother was sixteen and could barely take care of herself. Manson said she was not ready “ to take on the responsibilities of being a mother”(12). This caused Charles issues in his later life, he needed to be loved so he found it with his cult he called “family”. He was thrown around as a child, to people he didn’t even know. Manson said he felt pushed onto people he didn’t even know, “ rejection more than love and acceptance”(13). This is a theory about how and why he became a physco.

He moved in with his grandparents and started school, he was picked on and became violent. He started his first day of school in a dress. His grandpa said that it was a lesson for his behavior recently. He then began to steal at seven. His mother got parole in 1942, Charles moved back with her. He said, “The day she came home is still one of the happiest days of my life” (14). Then, four years went by and the living arrangements rocky. His mom got into trouble because she was an alcoholic and left in the nights. He stopped going to school because of the frequent moves.

He then was abandoned after another four years. Manson’s mother gave Charles to the state, because her new boyfriend wanted nothing to do with Charles. He started living on the streets. He had to make ends meet so he would do whatever he could to. He had said, “I started making my way on the streets anyway I could” (16). He even broke into grocery stores to eat food. He got arrested for stealing a bike, he was then sent to reform school. He ran away again, he says “running away had become as much as a part of my nature as stealing” (17). He continued to be sent to reform schools.

In February 1951, he was sixteen and stole a car, headed west. He stole more cars along the way. Two weeks went by and he was caught and charged. He was sent to reform school until he was eighteen. There he was tested, he had an IQ of 109 and diagnosed as manipulative and emotionally disturbed. He made the decision to turn himself around. The 1953 report says “Manson has shown a marked improvement in his general attitude”(21). This gave him an outlook on life.

He was given parole on May 8th 1954. This was because of his good behavior, he was nineteen. He had stated, “All I knew was jail” (22). He seemed to want to change this behavior. He was well behaved for awhile, until the next decade.

Just after a decade had passed, he had turned into the old Charles. He spent most of his time in jails again. After this, he thought he would go straight. He finally decided to get a job, he got a low paying job. He started to live a normal life. He talked to this girl for awhile, he said he was nervous. This was his first girlfriend. They got married shortly after, on January 10th 1955. They settled down in a small apartment. She was pregnant with Manson’s first child, they also moved to Los Angeles. He took her on trips, he burglarized on the way, he tried to pleading for his crimes. He blamed it on years of confinement. He served no time for the Florida crimes.

He had his first long sentence in the early 1960s. During his long sentence his wife leaves him even before the baby was born. He then wanted to be a family man. He tried launching a career for musicians, but failed. He wasn’t ready to leave prison in 1967, but he got parole. He was now single in Los Angeles. He had already spent half of his life in institutions. He had gotten into drugs, mostly LSD. This ended his dream.

His whole dream ended with a drug deal gone wrong. Manson shot Bernard Crowe, he was a black drug dealer. At this time Manson’s family members described it by saying that they always lived in fear that they were in danger. They said, “We all were living in fear” (49). He was sent back to prison for two years. He left prison with another dream and purpose. His dream was to grow deeply involved in crimes.

He committed a murder in 1969. It was late July-August, Manson and his “family” were responsible. There were nine deaths, some even included Hollywood celebrities. They got five months and were charged a lot. You would think this would teach him his lesson but it didn’t, he just continued. He believed his “family” were rats. One of his “family” members said, “I smell a rat but I was afraid to crowd them” (50).

Manson also was thought to have had a music deal, it fell through. He became easily provoked and annoyed. His past crimes haunted him. He started to get set back on his music career. He could possibly be arrested though. His crimes he was committing weren’t making enough money fast enough. He tried to borrow money but that didn’t work.

In late July, Gary, the supplier of the drug operation was murdered on July 26 1969. PIGGY was written in his blood on the wall. The person who killed him needed to be freed so Manson said. August 9th, they recreated the other murder, but left a knife with finger prints on it. There was three gunshot wounds and a hundred twenty stab wounds. Manson had to go back and wipe stuff down. They found the body on August 10th and arrested on August 16th. October 1969, they were arrested again for theft. December 1st 1969, Tate murders were solved, someone ratted Manson out and he was arrested. He then became famous, he made it on life magazine.

He spent the rest of his life in prison. He was in and out of mental prisons, some of it was to avoid the issues in jail. He was sexually abused and physically in prison. He also had a gardening job but lost it because of an escape kit found in his area. He never made parole, because they claimed he never changed. Overall Charles Manson was a well known physco who had a cult.

The Life Of Charles Manson

“Death is the greatest form of love.” ― Charles Manson

On November 12th, 1934 in Cincinnati, Ohio a baby boy was born to Kathleen Maddox. Kathleen was 16 at the time and an alleged prostitute. She gave the baby boy the name No Name Maddox until his name was changed when her mother named him after Kathleen’s father. His name would be Charles Miller Manson. When Charles was 4 his mother was charged with armed robbery, so he lived with his aunt in West Virginia His uncle would encourage Manson to not go to school and claimed he was a rebel. He spent a few months with his mother but she couldn´t find a foster home for him and sent him to schools. Charles started getting into trouble by skipping school. When Manson would stay at the reformatory schools for long enough he would join the choir, he liked singing. His uncle would encourage Manson to not go to school and claimed he was a rebel. He spent a few months with his mother but she couldn´t find a foster home for him and sent him to schools.

Becoming the New Manson

Manson started his rebellious acts at a young age such as stealing things from local convenience stores. He spent a lot of his youth in and out of juvenile reformatories. When he got older he started committing more crimes ranging from petty larceny, armed robbery, stealing cars and taking them across national state lines and even setting his school on fire. When Manson was just about 20 he robbed a store in Georgia, taking a straw hat full of dimes and made his way to LA. He later got caught there and spent his 21at birthday in LA county jail. Kn jail he would often play guitar when he was lonely. When he got out it was the ¨hippie¨ era. People were obsessed with drugs and music. Charles set out to find his family; or also known as a cult.

How he controlled

Most of Manson’s thoughts and ethical reasoning started out when he was young. He never got to see his mom and she constantly rejected him. This is everything he claimed he didn’t want to be. He treated his followers like gold and always showed them, love, in numerous ways. He gave them drugs that made them hallucinate and was manipulating. In the article “ Charles Manson” it stated that he told people and his “family” that there was a race war coming and he’d be the most powerful one of them all and people believed him. He was a dominant man and it showed. He wasn’t fearful and he always showed a calm state of mind. The night that changed it all

On August 9th, 1969, Charles Manson and his family set out to change the world forever. They drove around the busy place called Hollywood in search of a victim. They soon later stopped at Sharon Tate’s house while her husband, Roman Polanski, his friend, his wife and Abigail Folger was there. All of them had a rope tied to the back of them and were stabbed, except for the caretaker of the house, which they were shot. Later one of Manson’s followers used Sharon Tate’s blood to write “Pig” on the wall. Charles Manson had told his followers to do it as gruesome as they possibly could. On August 10th, 1969, the Manson family ended up killing Leno and Rosemary LaBianca, by stabbing them to death.

Getting Sentenced

Charles and his followers had gotten caught and had to go to court. Through this whole midst, Manson was calm and collected. The followers that had participated in the crime testified against him but always listened to his words. Each night he would tell them what to say and how to say. Soon it progressed to lies and more lies. The followers mocked and mimicked everything he did. In the middle of the trial, he carved a swastika in his head. Later the three girls that were also in the crime carved one in their head. He shaved his head and later all of his followers shaved their heads. At last, he was sentenced on December 13, 1971, to death. He later died on November 19th, 2017 in Bakersfield, CA.

Evolution Of Charles Manson Family: Formation And Crimes

The Manson family is one significant product of the counterculture that existed in the United States in the 1960s where people identified as hippies would create their own communities, embrace sexual liberation, listen to psychedelic music, and use psychedelic drugs in order to explore altered states of consciousness.

Led by Charles Manson, the group stood out among all other hippie groups as it comprised mostly young women who followed a leader that presented himself as the manifestation of Jesus. The group operated in the state of California; particularly in the San Francisco, San Fernando Valley, and Death Valley area where they went on to commit a number of crimes, one of which was the murder of actress Sharon Tate which led to the arrest of all involved.

How The Manson Family Formed

The Manson family was formed in 1967, the year Charles Manson was released from prison. The ex-convict had spent more than half of his life in correctional institutions for a variety of offenses. He had then chosen to get his life on track and move to San Francisco, California to pursue a music career after having learned to play the guitar behind bars.

While trying to get things going, Manson met 23-year-old Mary Brunner. The two soon began a relationship and he moved in with her. As the story goes, Manson was able to convince Brunner to allow other women who embraced the hippie culture to live with them. At a point, it was said that Brunner’s apartment housed up to eighteen other women who had gotten radicalized by Manson’s teachings. He portrayed himself to be the Son of Man while he taught his followers that they were the original Christians.

Charles Manson struggled to get his singing and songwriting career going but eventually caught a big break in late spring 1968 following a chance meeting with drummer and founding member of the Beach Boys, Dennis Wilson. This happened after Wilson picked up two female members of the Manson family and took them to his home. He would later go on to meet the girls’ leader and help him with his music. One of Manson’s songs, ‘Cease to Exist’, was retitled by the Beach Boys as ‘Never Learn Not to Love’.

Crimes Committed By the Manson Family

The Manson family was responsible for a number of assaults, petty crimes, vehicle thefts, and gruesome murders. The first notable murder was the killing of a black drug dealer named Bernard Crowe. Manson shot him in his apartment on July 1, 1969.

On July 25, 1969, Manson and other family members killed music teacher and Ph.D. student Gary Allen Hinman after holding him hostage for two days. The group believed he was wealthy and had hoped to turn him into a member in order to have access to his home and money. Hinman was uncooperative and was thus stabbed to death.

On August 8, 1969, Manson directed members of the family to go-to musician and record producer Terry Melcher’s home and kill everybody there. Manson met Melcher after the pair were introduced to each other by Wilson. The family leader had worked to get the record producer to listen to his music and help him make a career but Melcher never showed up. This is what is thought to have infuriated Manson, prompting his decision to sanction direct the killings. Members of the Manson family went on to kill eight and a half months pregnant actress Sharon Tate, who had rented the house Manson believed belonged to Melcher. Four other people were also murdered in the house.

The next day, Manson ordered the killing of supermarket executive Leno LaBianca and his wife, Rosemary. The couple were woken up from sleep and stabbed multiple times with a bayonet knife from their kitchen. The police never tied all three murders together until one member of the Manson family, who had told another person of her involvement in the crime, was apprehended. The information given by the member of the family led to Manson and all other members’ arrest and conviction.

Where are the Family Members Now?

The Manson Family consisted of approximately 100 of his followers. This included people like Susan Atkins, Mary Brunner, Bobby Beausoleil, Lynette Fromme, Tex Watson, Patricia Krenwinkel, Leslie Van Houten, Steve ‘Clem’ Grogan, and Linda Kasabian, all of whom went on to spend time in prison for their involvement in various crimes, including murders.

Susan Atkins died of natural causes in 2009 while behind bars. She was California’s longest-serving female inmate at the time, a title that has since been taken by Patricia Krenwinkel who is still serving life imprisonment. Both ladies, as well as Leslie Van Houten, were sentenced to death, which was subsequently commuted to life imprisonment when the California Supreme Court invalidated all death sentences issued prior to 1972, for their participation in the Tate-LaBianca murders.

Mary Brunner received a sentence of 20 years to life for numerous offenses that included credit card theft and armed robbery. She did her time at the California Institution for Women before being paroled in 1977. She has remained out of the public’s eye ever since. Bobby Beausoleil received a death sentence that was also later commuted to a life sentence for the murder of Gary Hinman. In 2019, he was recommended for early release by the parole board, a recommendation that was denied by the Governor of California.

Lynette Fromme is another member of the Manson family that spent time behind bars, however, not for anything related to the group. She was sentenced to life imprisonment for attempting to assassinate US President Gerald Ford. She was later released on parole in August 2009 after 34 years behind bars. Tex Watson was found guilty of murdering up to seven people, including Sharon Tate Polanski, Jay Sebring, Leno LaBianca, and Rosemary LaBianca. He was first sentenced to death before it was commuted to life imprisonment. He is being held at Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego, California.

Like others, Steve Grogan was sentenced to death before it was commuted to life imprisonment. However, unlike any other person in the group that committed murder, he is the only one to have been released on parole as of 2019. His whereabouts are unknown. The mastermind behind it all, Charles Manson, died of a heart attack and complications from colon cancer on November 19, 2017.

Charles Manson: Crimes, Music And Children

The crimes of Charles Manson

Charles Manson (November 12, 1934 – November 19, 2017) was a famous serial killer and cult leader. His story has promoted many TV shows based around him, most famously, an episode of Mindhunter, and the hit TV show Aquarius. Let’s get into his crimes and convictions!

In 1967, he formed a Cult. This cult was infamously named the ‘Manson Family’. His followers committed a series of 9 murders over 4 different locations in August and July 1969. According to the District Attorney, his overall plan was to start a race war. Manson was a hardcore racist, he has a Swastika tattooed onto his forehead and is known for his plan of the ‘Helter Skelter’. For Manson, the ‘Helter Skelter’ is a war between the whites and blacks which he had been planning for a long time, it also refers to the murders committed by the Manson Family.

His Charges

Charles Manson was convicted for murder, but not for the ones he committed as a leader. He was convicted for first-degree murder for the deaths of Gary Hinman and Donald Shea. For the other murders, they were put down as Conspiracy. The court deemed his leading and influence as enough to constitute Conspiracy. However, this was his third imprisonment.

The first imprisonment was for alleged acts of a homosexual nature, which was illegal at the time. This was alongside burglary and other offences. It is fair to say he was not a good person from the early years. On his second imprisonment, he was charged for forgery and prostitution offences. This was before the cult or the murder spree even became an idea in Charles’ head.

Music?

Before his crimes. Charles was a key figure in the music industry. American rock band Guns N’ Roses recorded Manson’s ‘Look at Your Game, Girl’. Musicians such as ‘Kasabian’ and Marilyn Manson derived their names from Manson. Recordings were released commercially of songs written and performed by Manson, starting with Lie: The Love and Terror Cult (1970). Various musicians have covered some of his songs.

His Children

Manson’s oldest son, Charles Milles Manson, Jr., was born in 1956. His mother was Rosalie Jean Willis, she was only 15 when she married 20-year-old Charles Mason. Charles Manson, Jr., took his stepfather’s name, living as Jay White for the rest of his life. In 1993, he committed suicide from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Charles Manson as a Boy

Charles Luther Manson is an unknown child. There is no evidence for if he exists or doesn’t, but according to many people, he does. His mother would have been Leona Rae ‘Candy’ Stevens. The third and final child is Valentine Micheal Manson. His mother was Mary Brunner. He was one of the very first members of the previously mentioned ‘Manson Family’. His name was shortly changed to Micheal Brunner after being adopted out of the cult.

Sources

1. https://www.oprahmag.com/entertainment/a27920517/charles-manson-children/
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helter_Skelter_(scenario)
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Manson
4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lie:_The_Love_and_Terror_Cult

Charles Manson: Family Group And Helter Skelter

Beginning off the Manson family

Charles Manson’s release from prison in 1967 aged 32. First Charles gained his followers by manipulating young vulnerable people by learning the art of Avery Larson’s black mail, fortune and murder in prison from his many years spent in there, gathering a list with a total of 50 convictions.

Starting his cult off with as many as 35 hippies, three quarters of them women, made up of Hitchhikers, runaways and lost souls, who were venturing into the drug fueled hippie era of 1960, were the victims of his newly found skills, tricking them into believing his ideologies as a con man and his average skills as a singer song writer. People believed Manson to be a “mystic” quoted from the writer David Dalton who wrote the first long profile of Charles Manson which he wrote about Manson as “if Christ came back as a con man”.

The group had members as young as 16 joining the group, using his words and drugs to lure them into what they believed to be a better life, isolating young women from being consumed by their past lives by “controlling their bodies and minds”. Manson even spoke to the blind members of his family and blinded faith, mocking them “I have tricked all of you. I have tricked you into doing what I want you to do, and I am using you, you are all aware of that now, and it’s like I have a bunch of slaves around me” quoted from the book “Charles Manson: the man who murdered the sixties” by David J. Krajicek.

Manson was also known as a man who “always knew what to say at the right time” to please others, as said by a previous member of the family. The members of the family would do anything to please Charles, and I mean everything, even murder, of themselves or others. Anyone who chose to leave the family, Charles would “vow” to kill them for betraying the family, and most importantly him, this was said to an ex member of the family Paul Wallkin who decided to leave after he saw the reality of the family he was a part of.

Whilst settled in the spawn movie ranch, belonging to a blind eighty-year-old man, participating in daily chores of the ranch, the women spent their days doing chores they hated whilest back in normal life, which Manson believed would then draw the “sexual taboos” away from the young women, as he was still indulged in his old gender and racial sensibilities of his Appalachian upbringing. The women sewed and embroidered Charles own ceremonial vest which became as “infamous as the family”, which only he was allowed to wear, it apparently contained years of work and memories, including the time all of when all the women shaved their heads. They then gathered the hair, wove it together and then sewed it onto the vest.

The helter skelter

The Beatles, throughout Manson’s seven year prison sentence, became his musical inspiration and also his object of deranged jealousy. Inmates claimed that Manson declared “given the chance, I could be bigger than the Beatles”. A couple of days after the Beatles white album release, Manson listened to all ninety three minutes of the album, getting lost in his own version of musical vision. Manson then obsessively listened to the album for the next four weeks, learning every song word for word, getting deep into the songs, one by McCartney “blackbird”, “rocky racoon”, and “Helter Skelter”.

Mansons ideology was that the Beatles were prophets sent down to speak to him through the lyrics of the song “helter skelter”. Manson’s next ideology was that the prophets were getting the Beatles to directly message him a warning that a race war was on the horizon and that his “families” survival was at high risk. The early sixties, 1963 in Birmingham Alabama , was the beginning of the African American uprising, during Manson’s prison sentence he overheard conversations of an “impending revolution” where “whites would no longer run things” and the rumors of heavy arms being brought into help the “black panthers supremacy” who at the time were under investigation by the FBI, due to an increase in riots across the country and claiming in court by J.Edgar Hoover standing before the press stating “ the black panther party, without question, represents the greatest threat to the internal security of the country”.

This set off Manson’s ideology of the “Helter skelter”, which led to the grooming of his followers into murder, telling them “I’d die for you” and then asked “would you die for me? Would you kill for me?” as they all agreed “Helter skelter” was the way to go. Manson’s goals for the “helter skelter” were to, plant the murders of the seven victims to look like they were committed by member of the African American community to then “ignite” the “helter skelter”, to then anger the black community into creating a “black and white civil war”, which Manson saw the black man winning, as he viewed them as stronger than him.

Manson’s ideology that once the black community destroyed the white race, leaving only his family standing, as he viewed them as more powerful than anyone outside of the family, and then given the power they desired, they would be unable to handle the responsibility of it all and turn over the power to the whites who survived the “helter skelter”, and live in shelter out in the desert and live off of resources and each other whilst there, in hiding.

Hollywood

August ninth, 1969, 10500 Cielo drive, the murders that shocked America, wrote in the FBI files of the murders “a six man team of police detectives probed a two massacre murder cases with bore startling similarities” “senseless, savage stabbings with almost ritualistic overtones”. This was the night Manson’s ideology and fantasy came true, finally launching the “helter skelter”, that night sending out a small group of his most ardent followers, who consisted of Susan Achins, Patricia knenwinkle and Tex Watson, with only a few days before demanding a family member Robert Beauscleel to slaughter his friend Gary Henry, simply because he felt like it. Manson had connections with Dennis Wilson from the band beach boys, through family members, successfully manipulating Wilson allowing him to stay in the house where the mass murders were later committed.

The victims of the Tate residence, simply there at the wrong time, resulting in devastating ending, “the beautiful Sharon Tate” due her first child, renting the house at the time, whilst her husband Roman Polanski was away in London, Abigail Flogger, Wojciech Frykowski, Steven parent and jay Sebring, first committing the La Bianca murders. Both murders accumulated a total of 169 stab wounds and seven gunshot wounds, leaving behind Manson’s messages written on the walls and door, in Sharon Tate’s blood “pigs”, “death to pigs”, “rise” and “we know glut” believing this would link back to the African American uprising.

Manson had a falling out with Dennis, believing he was still currently living in sunset boulevard, sending his family members up to mercilessly murder him, but shortly realized when they arrived at the residence they had made a slip up, but had to leave no eye witnesses, ending in the murders. The family was then called “heartless bloodthirsty robots sent out from the fires of hell” at the court when they were called out for sentencing, but in my opinion, they weren’t far off. These murders are seen to have changed America forever.

In the end Charles Manson got what he always wanted, to make a mark in history, using his radical ideologies and his extreme approaches to achieving these, making the year 1969, but maybe not how he planned, but we can’t all get what we want, and that is evident.

The Story Of Charles Manson

When I was eight years old, my father got to know and meet Charles Manson. I had no idea who this man was, but I understood that he must be someone very special since I heard of their meeting everywhere; on TV, on the radio and in social media. I asked my father what was so special about this man, but the only response I got was something like “he is someone I need to get to know to find out why people do horrible things”. He said that I was too young to understand why.

When Manson died a few years later, on November 19th 2017, my father’s phone kept beeping and ringing all day. Reporters from all over the world wanted my father to tell them his opinions about it. By then I was old enough to read all the headlines myself. From what I understood then, he was a very famous murderer, it seemed like the whole world knew his name.

When he was born, he did not even have a name. He was called “No Name Maddox”.

When Kathleen Maddox gave birth to him on November 12th, 1934 at the University of Cincinnati Academic Health Center, she was only 16 years old. The father, Colonel Walker, abandoned the mother just a few days after he found out that she was pregnant. Kathleen was an alcoholic and completely ignored her son. Manson was left alone almost everyday when she was out partying and drinking. It did not take long before he ended up in an orphanage and started committing crimes.

Since Manson never had a family, he was obsessed with creating his own. He had a personality that women were attracted to, he was charming and promised to help and take care of them. He manipulated and convinced them that the world would go under and that together they were the only ones who could save it. At his meeting with my father, he even said that he was Jesus Christ. After a few years, he had gathered a following of approximately a hundred people, which would later be known as the “Manson family”.

Some of the Manson Family members

During the 60s-70s, pop music became very popular and people started idolizing pop stars. Manson saw this as an opportunity to become famous and told his “family” that they should make music that would make the whole world listen to them and follow them. He wanted to become more famous than the Beatles. Unfortunately the music producer he contacted was not impressed by Manson’s music. Therefore he went for plan b, a war to kill all white people, starting with the producer.

Manson persuaded a few of his favourite members of the family to visit the producer’s house in Beverly Hills. When they got there in the middle of the night, they were told by the people staying there that he was out of town. These people turned out to be the pregnant movie actress Sharon Tate and her friends. Before the night was over, they were all dead…

Throughout his whole life, Manson denied being involved in the murders. He even refused being in the house that night. I asked my father what he believed and he told me that Manson let him know details about that night to impress him. But if my father told anyone about this, Manson would say that he lied. The details that he told him seemed too real to be invented. (Nadin Elzant 9E)

Charles Manson went to prison a large number of times for the different crimes he committed alone and with the Manson Family before he officially got sentenced to death. The state abolished the death penalty one year after, which led that he instead got sentenced to life. While Manson was recently married to Rosalie Willis, the couple drove of in a stolen car for a trip to California, U.S. Willis gave birth to his child, Charles Manson Jr., one month before he got probation for the stolen car. Even after his insignificant crimes, he still wanted to continue his criminal life.

As mentioned, Manson had many admirers that became the Manson Family and Manson was the leader. The loyal disciples have committed over 35 murders. Most of the Manson Family members were already sentenced to life for some of the known killings that they committed. The Manson Family used to murder people the same way to not leave a noticeable trace of being them. The murder of Gary Hinman and the Tate/LaBianca murders are for instance similar.

The Murder of Gary Hinman

Gary Hinman, born on December 24, 1934, in Colorado, U.S was a musician. Manson and Hinman became friends for a long period of time. On July 25, 1965, the Manson Family members Bobby Beausoleil, Susan Atkins, and Mary Brunner visited Hinman. Manson had the belief that Hinman had money hidden in his house which he wanted to obtain by trying to make Hinman a member of the family. Hinman refused to give them his money which led to him being held captive for a couple of days before getting stabbed to death. Manson used a sword to slice Hinman’s ear and face and Beausoleil stabbed him in the chest after hours of begging to leave him alone. To get away with this, the members used Hinman’s blood to write “POLITICAL PIGGY” to make the Black Panthers look guilty.

Tate Murders (LaBianca)

The Tate murders were one of the biggest murders the cult had committed. This killing was a mass murder that was a home invasion as well which including Patricia Krenwinkel, Linda Kasabian, Susan Atkins, and Charles “Tex” Watson were behind. This event occurred between August 8 and 9th, 1969 and took six people’s life – including one unborn baby. Krenwinkel, Kasabian, Atkins, and Watson were under the direction of Manson to arrive at 10050 Cielo Drive were the American actress, Sharon Tate was currently living with her spouse, Roman Polanski. Manson gave explicit instructions to murder everyone in the house. A couple of hours earlier, the victims had dinner at the restaurant, El Coyote.

Steven Parent was only 18 years old when he got murdered. He was born in California and was visiting the guest house in the midnight of August 8th. Parent came across the members while driving a car. Parent was met by Watson that was holding a knife in one hand and a gun in the other. While Watson was approaching, Parent shouted out “Please don’t do this, I won’t say anything”, hoping it would change Watson’s mind but he instead shot Parent four times. This occurred prior to Watson and Atkins breaking into the home.

Sharon Tate

Sharon Tate was an American actress and a model, working as a cover girl and in fashion magazines. She was born on January 24, 1943, in Dallas, Texas, U.S. She starred in Valley of the Dolls where she played the character Jennifer North which she got nominated for a Golden Globe. All the victims gathered in the living room moments before she got stabbed to death. Tate was eight and a half months pregnant with her son when this incident occurred. Polanski and Tate were planning on naming their son Paul Richard Polanski, after his father. Sharon Tate was the last one to get murdered by Manson.

Jay Sebring

Jay Sebring was an American hair stylist for celebrities. Sebring was in love with Tate until the day he died but they still remained good friends. On the day of the murder, Watson tied a rope around his neck with Tate. Sebring got shot to death by Watson after he was concerned if laying on the stomach was good for Tate and her unborn child. Watson kicked Sebring while he was slowly dying.

Wojciech Frykowski

Wojciech Frykowski was a polish man that moved to the U.S several years after graduation. Frykowski could not speak English but was fluent in French which had no use in the U.S. He had to get a tutor to teach him English, Abigail Folger, who he at that time fell in love with. Folger and Frykowski successfully fled out from the house but Watson shot Frykowski on the lawn before they could get away.

Abigail Folger

Abigail Folger was an American coffee company owner. She used to work with charity a large amount of time. Folger then settled to work as Frykowski’s English tutor. They became a couple after many months of being friends. On August 8th, Folger was held captive whilst the members of the cult tried to murder the others in the house. Folger was able to run away from Atkins and Watson but she did not get too far before Watson reached her and tackled her. Krenwinkel and Watson stabbed her until she died.

They have successfully completed their mission and prior to taking off, Atkins wrote “PIG” on the front door of the house using Tate’s blood.

LaBianca Murders

On the following night of the Tate murders, the members of the cult, Watson, Atkins, Krenwinkel, Kasabian, Leslie Van Houten, Steve “Clem” Grogan, and Manson took off to murder other people.

Leno and Rosemary LaBianca were a married couple and the two victims after the Tate murder incident. The LaBiancas were terrified after reading the headlines about the incident from the day before. Rosemary went and slept in the bedroom whilst Leno slept in the living room. Rosemary woke up by Manson holding a gun near her and took her to the living room. When she entered the living room, Rosemary saw her husband tied up. The couple thought that they were only getting robbed but after the Manson Family stole their money, they started to torture the LaBiancas. Van Houten and Krenwinkel entered the bedroom were Rosemary was tied up. While her husband Leno was getting stabbed in the living room screaming to stop, Rosemary was getting tortured hearing his scream. Leno got stabbed until he stopped responding. Krenwinkel left a carving fork poking out of his stomach and a kitchen knife from the throat. Watson returned to finish his business with Rosemary, stabbing her a numerous amount of times. Rosemary got stabbed a total of 41 times. Before leaving, Van Houten, Krenwinkel and Watson wrote many words on the walls.

Now all the members of the cult have gone their separate ways. Susan Atkins was sentenced to death after the Tate killings. Whilst in prison, Atkins acknowledged her participation of stabbing the actress, Sharon Tate. Atkins died in 2009 due to brain cancer. Patricia Krenwinkel is now 71 years old. She has tried to get parole for fourteen times but it got denied because of that she confessed about how she stabbed Abigail Folger twenty-eight times. She got sentenced to life in California Institution for Women. Leslie Van Houten, was the youngest follower of the cult when only being 19 years old, is momentarily 69 years old. After many testimonies, Van Houten has gotten paroles denied. Charles ‘Tex’ Watson, the member and leader of the Tate and the LaBiancas murders, is sentenced to life. The 73 years old man received a diploma in business management. ‘I am the devil. I am here to do the devil’s business’ was his saying before murdering Tate and the LaBiancas.

Bobby Beausoleil is an American musician who was in the murder of Gary Hinman. While in prison, the 71 years old Beausoleil recorded music in prison. He has a passion for music and for being sentenced to life, he wants to have something to do. Linda Kasabian, the follower and the assistant of the biggest killings that the Manson Family were behind. Now she is 69 years old and there is not much information on where she is now.

Charles Manson, the founder, and leader of the cult died of colon cancer, acute cardiac arrest and respiratory failure on November 19, 2017, in Bakersfield, California, U.S. Manson was transferred one month before his death from Corcoran State Prison to a hospital in Bakersfield due to his health getting worse. Charlie ‘No Name Maddox’ Manson, died at the age of 83.

Resources

1. Britannica (n.d) Tate Murders [online] Available from: https://www.britannica.com/event/Tate-murders [Accessed 19 January 2019]
2. CieloDrive.com (n.d) Gary Hinman [online] Available from: http://www.cielodrive.com/gary-hinman.php [Accessed 21 January 2019]
3. CieloDrive.com (n.d) Rosemary LaBianca [online] Available from:
4. http://www.cielodrive.com/rosemary-labianca.php [Accessed 26 January 2019]
5. CieloDrive.com (n.d) Steven Parent [online] Available from: http://www.cielodrive.com/steven-parent.php [Accessed 25 January 2019]
6. Factinate (n.d) 37 Tragic Facts About Sharon Tate [online] Available from: https://www.factinate.com/people/37-tragic-facts-sharon-tate/ [Accessed 22 January 2019]
7. BBC (2017) Charles Manson death: Where are the Family members now? [online] Available from: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-42056252 [Accessed 27 January 2019]
8. Harvard style references: Tyra
9. En.wikipedia.org. (2019). Manson Family. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manson_Family [Accessed 27 Jan. 2019].
10. ABC News. (2019). Charles Manson: The man who killed the 60s. [online] Available at: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-11-20/charles-manson-the-man-who-killed-the-60s/9172088 [Accessed 27 Jan. 2019].
11. En.wikipedia.org. (2019). Tate murders. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tate_murders [Accessed 27 Jan. 2019].
12. Encyclopedia Britannica. (2019). Charles Manson | Biography, Murders, & Facts. [online] Available at: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Charles-Manson [Accessed 27 Jan. 2019].
13. En.wikipedia.org. (2019). Charles Manson. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Manson [Accessed 27 Jan. 2019].

The Tate-Labianca Murders: Charles Manson Family

Introduction to the Tate-Labianca Murders: Charles Manson’s Helter Skelter

It was called the summer of love, the last year of the 1960s. Little did anyone know that August 9th, 1969 would change the world for generations to come. On this night, four people left Spahn Ranch on the orders of Charles Manson to begin what Manson referred to as Helter Skelter. Helter Skelter was supposed to start a race war according to Manson and his family. On this night the killers were sent to the home of Sharon Tate. Once there, they were to kill everyone in the house. On the next night August 10th, the killers went out again this time to the home of Labianca’s. Again, the killers were told to kill everyone in the house. They did this and returned to Spahn ranch. In these two nights, seven people were murdered. No one felt safe anymore, the summer of love was over.

Challenges in Forensic Science during the 1960s

In the 1960’s forensic science really didn’t exist yet. There were no computers or digital cameras. If pictures were taken it was usually done with a Polaroid camera. When fingerprints were found pictures were taken of them to compare to pictures in a large book of fingerprints. DNA had not yet been discovered. If you were to find blood and collect it. The only thing a forensic scientist could do with it was told the blood type, which in most cases was never helpful. Do to these older forms of forensics it was very difficult to catch people who committed a crime. A police officer had to go through a lot of work to make simple discoveries. If the technologies of today existed back, then it may have been easier to solve the case. The blood that was discovered at both crime scenes would have yielded blood from the killers. At that time though it would have looked like it was from one of the victims. Police officers of this time were not trained as they are now to collect evidence. Several things at the Tate crime scene were disturbed and made unusable by police. What could have been one of the key pieces of evidence was a fingerprint on the lock for the fence. One officer after pointing out the blood of the machine proceeded to push the button himself, therefore destroying the fingerprint left by one of the killers. Police was also walking all over the crime transferring blood from one place to another. This made it difficult for the blood examiner to tell if the blood was originally in a certain place or had been tracked there.

At the time of the murders, most police officers were not prepared or equipped for the murders that happened those nights in August. Back in the ’60s, no equipment for collecting evidence and data was available. Experts had to examine figure prints with just their eyes, to try and prove that a person was guilty they had to eye the figure print. As for DNA evidence, much of it was not collected, especially with the Tate murders. One police investigator is said to have been stupid enough to contaminate a Bloody figure print found on the button of the Tate residence gate. He pressed the button o to open the gate, “I needed to get out” was his response for messing up the evidence. All the footprints in the house and in the crime, the scene were contaminated by police, at that time foot covers were not a thing, so all the footprints were contaminated.

The Perpetrators and the Victims: A Night of Horror

August 9th, 1969 from Spahn ranch Charles Mason sent out four individuals to commit murder. Their names were Charles “Tex” Watson was 24 years of age at the time of the murders, Susan Atkins was 21 years of age at the time of the murders, Patricia Krenwinkel was 22 years of age at the time of the murders, and Linda Kasabian who was 20 years old at the time of the murders. They were told not to leave anyone alive and to make the murders “witchy”. (Bugliosi Gentry 1974) These four individuals were chosen because of their devotion to Mason. He knew they would do anything he told them to without question. On this night the individuals who lost their lives were Steven Parent who was only 18 at the time of his death and the youngest victim was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. If he would have left the house a few minutes earlier, he would have survived. Steven was shot four times and was considered the mildest murder that night. Abigail Folger 25 years of age at the time of her death, was stabbed 28 times, she was a close friend of Sharon Tate the homeowner. Voytek Frykowski 33 years of age at the time of his death was at the house because he was dating Abagail Folger. Voytek Frykowski was a fighter, he was shot twice, hit in the head at least 13 times, and stabbed 51 times. The two of them were staying with Sharon while her husband was out of the country. Jay Sebring was 35 years of age at the time of his death was at the house visiting Sharon whom he used to date and was still close friends with. Jay Sebring literally bled to death. He was stabbed seven times and shot once, he has also beaten in the face enough that it was hard to identify him. Finally, was Sharon Tate aged 26 at the time of her death who was also eight months pregnant with a baby boy. Sharon Tate was stabbed sixteen times in the chest and back. These murders were beyond overkill, the victims were shot, stabbed, and beaten. It was a frenzied murder scene as two of the victims were able to get out of the house and died on the lawn. It was said that Abagail Folger was wearing a white nightgown that night, but when her body was discovered it had been turned red with all her blood. Manson also told the group to write things on the walls in the victim’s blood. Patricia Krenwinkel wrote” Helter Skelter” on the refrigerator and Susan Atkins wrote “pigs” in Sharon Tate’s blood. These phrases seemed to be meaningless until the next night. (Bauer 2018)

The Second Night: Further Atrocities and the Plan Behind the Murders

The next night August 10th, 1969 the killers went out again. This time Charles Manson would accompany them to make sure what happened the night before did not happen again. Manson also recruited a new person to become one of his killers her name was Leslie Van Houten, she was 20 years of age at the time of the murders. Manson picked the house and went in first. He tied up the married couple that was in the house. Their names were Leno aged 44 at the time of his death and Rosemary Labianca who was 39 years old at the time of her death. These two individuals had known idea the nightmare they were about to encounter when Charles Manson entered their home. They were totally unsuspecting of what was about to happen to them because Charlie said it was only a robbery. After tying up the couple he left and told Charles “Tex” Watson, Patricia Krenwinkel, and Leslie Van Houten to enter the house and to kill the couple. He told them last night was too messy and that they should not scare this couple as he had them at ease. Again, even though the couple was tied up it was still overkilled and this time the victims could not even fight back because they were tied up. Krenwinkel stabbed Leno Labianca four times in the abdomen and 14 times with a carving fork leaving the carving fork in his stomach. She also carved the word “war” into his stomach. He also had a stake protruding from his neck though this was not discovered until the autopsy because he had a pillowcase over his head. They wrote “Rise” and “death to pigs” on the walls. Rosemary Labianca has stabbed a total of 41 times and was chocked with a lamp cord that was tied around her neck. She too had a pillowcase over her head when she was found. The killers continued to stab her long after she was dead. Not much evidence was left behind like the other crime scene. Mainly the only evidence found was blood. The only stuff that was intentionally left at the Labianca home were the phrases painted on the wall and watermelon rinds left in the sink. (Bugliosi, Gentry 1974) By leaving the watermelons rinds, Manson was hoping the cops would think an African American person did it. Which would enact his plan “Helter Skelter”, fortunately, the police officers did not fall for their plan.

“Helter Skelter” was not a phrase coined by Charles Manson. The phrase actually started as a title for a Beatles song, which was released in 1968. Manson believed that he should have been apart of The Beatles, and believed the songs were speaking to him and making him do these things. In Charlie’s mind, Helter Skelter referred to a race war between black and white people. He said that the black people would take over the world, but they would not know how to lead. Then they would come to Charlie and ask him to lead them. At this point, the family would oversee the entire world. Charlie decided he was tired of waiting for Helter Skelter to happen on its own and decided to start it himself. This is the primary reason behind the Tate-Labianca murders. After the murders, personal items such as wallets were left in black neighborhoods to make it look like black people committed the crime.

Not one detective connected the two crimes, the intensity of the murders matched, each murder has phrases like “pig” and “death to pigs” but in the end, the detectives on the Tate case felt it was a drug deal gone bad and would not move from that. The Labianca detectives felt the two cases were similar but could not get anyone else to agree that both crime scenes were related. The Tate murder scene had drugs found at it and the residents were famous. The Labianca’s were a housewife and grocery store owner. There was nothing to connect the two accept the brutality of the crimes and the words in blood that were found inside both residences. So, until later there was no investigation into these two crimes being connected.

The Tate murders were gruesome, the crime scene was a horrific sight. The inside of the house was covered in blood, the outside was just as bad. Inside the house were the bodies of Sharon Tate and Jay Sebring which were badly mutilated by the killers. Outside of the house were the bodies of Abigail Folger, Voytek Frykowski, and in his own car was Steven Parent. The killers were stone cold, and they were all brainwashed by Charles Manson. Manson convinced his people to commit these crimes and most of the people in the Family would anything to please Charlie. The family committed these crimes for one thing. Manson wanted to start a war, a war between “Whites and Blacks” and he wanted the war to happen by any means necessary. (Gries 1976) He was tired of sitting around and made the decision to make a move on his own to start Helter Skelter.

Investigation Challenges and Evidence Collection

The evidence in the cases was mostly blood, and there was a lot of it and in many places at the Tate residence. Since several of the victims were able to get outside the house or were never in the house and murdered outside it left many areas of blood to be identified. There was so much blood that the examiner did not even get samples from all the pools, if two pools were close to one another it must be the same type of blood. There were several pieces of a gun butt from a 22-caliber buntline revolver, but no gun itself was found at the scene. (Douglass 2009) There were also several small knives found throughout the residence. A rope was left behind that was tied around the necks of Sharon Tate and Jay Sebring. Also found was a broken pair of reading glasses that did not belong to anyone living in the house. These reading glasses were collected, but no tests were run against them. There were two fingerprints found at the Tate house. These prints belonged to Patricia Krenwinkel and Charles Watson. These fingerprints helped Bugliosi prove that The Family committed these crimes.

The fact that the Tate-Labianca killers were caught and convicted was because of pure luck on most parts. The police themselves destroyed a lot of evidence due to carelessness, and due to the fact, they were not trained to collect evidence. Even though a flyer was distributed right after the murders to all area police stations, they did not realize that as of September 1, 1969, they had the gun that was used in the murders, in their own evidence room. When Steven Weiss found the gun, he made sure not to touch the grip in order not to disturb any evidence and DNA on the gun.(Chua-Eoan 2007) As with most of the Tate evidence, the patrol officer Michael F. Watson, that came to retrieve the gun disturbed the fingerprints by taking the gun by the grip, therefore taking away any fingerprints that might have been there. The gun sat in a police evidence locker until late December when a phone call from the boy’s father alerted the police that they had been in possession of the gun for months. For the most part, most of the evidence against the Manson family came from other family members and was given to the police to get themselves out of trouble. (Bugliosi, Gentry 1974) They wanted Manson and his crew to go away for what they did, so they sold them all out. There was not a lot of evidence found at the Labianca house, do to the victims being tied up before the horror started. Most of the evidence there was blood and the words in blood around the residence. The only problem was that the medical examiner did not take any blood samples at all because he assumed it was all from the victims. For the most part, the only solid evidence against anyone was the two fingerprints that were found at the Tate house. These fingerprints ended up belonging to Patricia Krenwinkel and Charles Watson.

The way the initial indictments against the Manson family were obtained was through one of the murders themselves. Susan Atkins decided to testify against the other family members for full immunity. With this testimony, the prosecution was able to get all the names of the killers that were involved. Other evidence ended up being found because of the testimony. After a report was made about the testimony a news crew following the directions of Susan Atkins were able to find all the clothes from the Tate murder case. Eventually, Susan Atkins recanted her statement saying she was coerced by Bugliosi and that nothing she said was true. With this, the prosecution could offer immunity to the only person involved in the case who did not hurt anyone.

The Trial and Conviction: Bringing the Manson Family to Justice

Ultimately, the case against the Manson family came down to a fantastic prosecutor in one Vincent Bugliosi. Bugliosi was chosen to prosecute this case, being picked over 100 other people. He was able to dig through all of Charles Manson’s talk to be able to find the reasons behind the murders and use his own words against him. There was also a great prosecution witness for the state. Linda Kasabian, who was with the murders on both nights but never entered either house decided to testify against Manson and company for full immunity from prosecution. Vincent Bugliosi has said that he was much happier to give the immunity to Linda Kasabian who did not hurt anyone instead of Susan Atkins, who openly participated in the murders. The trial itself lasted nine months which was the longest trial in history until the O.J. Simpson trial decades later. Linda Kasabian testified for 18 grueling days. She had to recount every detail from living with the family up to the murders. (Douglass 2009) She held her own against a rigorous defense and never wavered in her story. This young woman showed extreme courage in her willingness to testify against the family. It has been said that she was threatened more than once that if she did testify someone would kill her. Most people say she was the main reason the family was convicted.

In 1970, the case against the Manson’s ended. All defendants including Charles Manson, Patricia Krenwinkel, Susan Atkins, and Leslie Van Houten was found guilty. Manson, Atkins, and Krenwinkel were found guilty of seven counts of murder in the first degree and were sentenced to the death penalty. Leslie Van Houten was found guilty of two counts of murder in the first degree and sentenced to death. All the defendant’s death sentences were reduced to life in prison when California abolished the death penalty. In time Charles Watson was extradited from Texas and prosecuted by Vincent Bugliosi and like the other family members he was convicted and found guilty of seven counts of murder in the first degree, He to was sentenced to death but his sentence was changed to life in prison.

The decisions in these cases have never changed. None of the defendants have ever had a retrial nor have any of them asked for one. Once the killers were away from Charles Manson, they were able to see how ridiculous these murders were. All the killers with the exception of Charles Manson have shown remorse about what they did. Manson has always said he never did anything and could not help what his followers chose to do. All the defendants have had multiple chances for parole which have always been rejected. Every member of the Tate Labianca murders is still in jail on has since died. After a while, in prison, the Manson family killers would turn their backs on Charles Manson. Susan Atkins who never got into any trouble while in jail was never paroled and died of brain cancer on September 4th, 2009, she was 61 years old. Charles Manson the leader of this group of misfits who never took any responsibility in these murders died on November 19th, 2017 of natural causes, he was 83 years old. Everyone else is still in jail and come up for parole every so often. All defendants have said they never feel as though they will get out of jail. They understand that what they did was unforgivable and that the families of the victims have every right not to forgive them.

In conclusion, the Tate-Labianca murders changed a lot of things. It ended the summer of love in a hurry. Seven people lost their lives because of one psychopath’s interpretation of a song. People wonder still today if the murders would have happened if the Beatles White album had never come out, or if it was just a matter of time for this deranged mind to come up with Helter Skelter on his own. Forensics has come a long way since the Tate-Labianca murders. With the development of DNA and computers more information can be obtained a lot quicker then it was back in 1969. Thanks to the hard work of Vincent Bugliosi these murders were solved, and several vicious killers were taken off the streets. There was also Linda Kasabian to thank for being a human being during these atrocities and not a homicidal killer like the family she was with at the time. The scary thought is that without these two people the Manson family may have never been caught and the Tate-Labianca murders may still be unsolved.

Serial Killers Ted Bundy, Charles Manson, Harold Shipman, and Dr. Jack Kevorkian: Nature Versus Nurture

A serial killer is defined as a killer who kills three or more people in the same way. By looking into the early lives and years of Ted Bundy, Charles Manson, Harold Shipman, and Dr. Jack Kevorkian the answer to the question “Are serial killers born or raise” is never truly uncovered but the direction it points is apparent. Most believe that serial killers are raised, while the lesser majority believes they are born, this being one of the psychological approaches of nature or nurture. Most believe that serial killers are raised and are influenced by different events that occur in their lifetime and bring them to the point of killing multiple people.

According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, FBI, there are three primary types of serial killers, being medical killers, organized killers, and disorganized killers. Almost every serial killer can be placed into one of these three categories. The medical killer is someone who has a background in the medical field, typically having a higher IQ than organized or disorganized killers. Medical killers typically cover their victims in a way that makes them look as if they had passed from natural causes. They are the smartest and rarest form of serial killers. The organized killer is one who thoroughly plans out every detail of the crime, taking precautions and making sure there is no compromising evidence left to link them to the crime. Typically this killer will stalk their victims for several days before they strike and put on a facade in an attempt to obtain control of the situation and the victim to a secondary location, where they will kill the victim. The organized killer is usually the hardest killer to not only identify but to catch in the act. The Disorganized Killer is spontaneous and never plans their kills ahead of time. Killing whenever they feel like it, victims tend to be a case of wrong place at the wrong time. These killers are liable to move from town to town, state to state, to avoid being caught. They tend to have the lowest IQ out of all the killers and are the most secluded from everyone and rarely have close friends or family. Disorganized killers, usually have no remembrance of their deeds and are likely to blame their actions on the voices they claim to hear in their heads. The FBI states that “The majority of serial killers are not reclusive, social misfits who live alone. They are not monsters and may not appear strange. Many serial killers hide in plain sight within their communities. Serial Killers often have families and homes are gainfully employed, and appear to be normal members of the community” (Morton).

Ted Bundy is one of the most notorious serial killers of all time and is known for kidnapping, raping, and murdering women. Bundy grew up in a strict Christian home and claimed to have a stable childhood, with caring church-going parents. Bundy later attended the University of Iowa to major in Law. Over the course of his life, he was a boy scout, crisis counselor, and campaign volunteer strengthening those around him’s thoughts on him. In high school, Bundy was arrested twice and charged for suspicion of burglary and auto theft. Bundy was known for being charming, charismatic, intelligent, and a model citizen by those that knew him. One man described Using his infamous charm, he would trick women into trusting him and would seduce them. Then, when he got them alone, he would strike, sometimes after intercourse, but other times he would kill them before, committing necrophilic acts with the victim’s corpse. During Bundy’s killing spree, his long term girlfriend of seven years, Elizabeth Kloepfer, and her daughter, for who, Bundy had played a father role, had no idea of Bundy’s transgressions.

One day in 1977 Bundy was left alone in a courthouse library he escaped out the window and was found eight days later. In December that same year, Bundy escaped through the vents in his jail cell and made his way to Tallahassee, Florida. On January 14, 1978, Bundy broke into a Chi Omega sorority house on the Florida State University campus, attacking four of the girls in the house and killing two of them. After making his escape from the Chi Omega house, Bundy struck again on February 9th, when he kidnapped and murdered a twelve-year-old girl named Kimberly Leech. This marked the last of Bundy’s rampage. He was pulled over by the police, identified, and taken into immediate custody under twenty-four-hour surveillance. While in jail, Bundy was visited by a young woman named Carole Ann Boone. He ended up marrying Boone and was married to her for eight years, Boone also took the jury stand and told the court, “I’ve never seen anything in Ted that indicates a destructiveness towards other people” (Greenhaven Press, 40-41). Bundy served as his own lawyer during the trial but was officially convicted of thirty-six murders in seven different states and was sentenced to execution. Bundy then continued to confess to as many as one hundred more murders, but the police are unaware of how many of the confessions were true or if they were just an attempt by Bundy to further push back his execution date.

Not only was Charles Manson remembered for being a serial killer but he was also known for being a cult leader. Born in Cincinnati Ohio, Manson was also raised in a strict religious environment by his mother. Manson’s father and stepfather had both left him and his mother at an early age. When Manson rebelled against his mother she rejected him and put him up for adoption. After spending time in foster care Manson turned to crime and was sentenced to seven years in prison for transporting women across state borders for prostitution, he was released from prison in 1967 Manson would go on to spend time at the Haight-Ashbury House, a half-way house for criminals getting out of prison. While at the Haight-Ashbury House, Manson met many young women, who he bonded with over mutual anti-establishment philosophies and drug abuse. Many of them looked up to Manson as if he was Jesus Christ leading to Manson’s establishment of the Manson Family Cult, which would grow to have about 100 ‘family members’ by the early 1970s. On August 9, 1969, Manson had directed three of his ‘family’ to go to successful film director Roman Polanski and wife Sharon Tate and kill them along with anyone else found inside. As soon as Manson’s ‘family’ arrived, they cut the phone lines and approached the house, killing everyone discovered in the house, and writing ‘pig’ on Polanski’s front door with Tate’s blood. The next night Manson and his ‘family’ continued their killing by going to Leon and Rosemary Labianca’s home in Los Angeles, where Manson tied the couple up and instructed the three of his ‘family’ to kill the Labianca’s. They carved ‘War’ into Leon’s flesh and wrote ‘death to the pigs’, ‘Rise’, and ‘Healther Skelter’ on the walls and fridge with blood.

Manson later declared his motive for the murders; to begin a revolution where the ‘family’ believed black Americans would take out the white Americans but then would have to rely on ‘the Family’ for leadership on how to run the earth, which Manson identified as ‘Helter Skelter’ after a Beatles song. None of the killers were condemned for the murders until one of Manson’s ‘family’ who assisted him in the killings, Susan Atkins, was in custody for charges related to theft when she boasted to another inmate about the Tate and Labianca killings, along with their plans to kill more celebrities in the future. Kasabian and Atkins served as key witnesses in the trial against Manson for the prosecution where Watson, Kasabian, Atkins, and Krenwinkel were sentenced to death alongside Manson, with the California death penalty temporarily overturned in 1972 so instead, they were sent to prison with the opportunity for parole, but any time any of them petitioned for parole they were denied. While in prison, Manson became engaged to a fifteen-year-old Rosalie Willis who believed him to be innocent and Manson obtained a marriage license in November 2014. Willis main reason behind wanting to marry Manson was so when he died she could take his corpse and display it as a Tourist Attraction. Charles Manson died of a heart attack on November 19th, 2017 in his prison cell at Bakersfield prison in Bakersfield, California.

Serial killer Harold Shipman is known for being one of Britain’s most prolific serial killers, killing around two hundred thirteen people over the course of three years by lethal injections of morphine and heroin. Shipman was born into a working-class family and was very close to his mother who passed when Shipman was only seventeen of lung cancer and suffered from a great deal of pain. Shipman’s main source of inspiration came from the physician who helped his mother when she was at the peak of her pain, Shipman attended the University of Leeds to study medicine and carry on his mother’s legacy. Shipman grew up to marry Primrose Shipman, having four children with her and lived in Manhatten for about twenty years. He was thought to have been a caring physician. Harold had never been in trouble with the law before he was convicted of the murder of fifteen women. Most of Shipman’s victims were elderly widows suffering from chronic diseases and loss. Shipman hung himself in his prison cell in Wakefield Prison on January 13, 2004, on the eve of his fifty-eighth birthday.

Dr. Jack Kevorchian had a normal childhood Born on May 26, 1928, in Pontiac, Michigan and later attended the University of Michigan Medical School. Kevorkian believed assisted suicide should have nothing to do with government laws and should be a basic personal right. He set a goal to legalize doctor-assisted suicide. While trying to legalize assisted suicide, Kevorkian carried out more than one hundred thirty doctor-assisted suicides using the machine he invented, which he referred to as ‘The Suicide Machine.’ This machine is believed to be what made Kevorkian famous, until 1991 when he lost his medical license for suspicion of illegal drug distribution, and switched to carbon monoxide instead because he could no longer access “The Suicide Machine’. In each of the more than one hundred thirty cases, he made his reasoning behind the crimes known to the public as part of a determined campaign to change attitudes and laws on doctor-assisted suicide. All patients in which Kevorkian assisted were between 1990 and 1998 and physically or mentally ill. Many of the families were said to be grateful for Kevorkian for ‘helping’ their loved ones in times of pain and suffering.

How did these serial killers live a double life and where they born or raised to be serial killers? Bundy, Manson, Shipman, and Kevorkian can all be categorized as Medical, Organized, or Disorganized serial killers? Ted Bundy was described by many as a stand-up guy and a good role model but behind the curtain that was Ted Bundy’s life, he was the exact opposite. Charles Manson had started as a criminal and turned to a cult leader who turned his followers into killers. Harold Shipman was an English man who was inspired by a family physician who helped his mother relieve her of her pain during his childhood. Dr. Jack Kevorkian was a doctor who believed heavily that physician-assisted suicide should be legal and would ‘help’ those who came to him. More people believe that serial killers are raised rather than born and are affected by certain events that happen over the course of their lifetime.

Manson Family: A Psychological Review on Susan Atkins

Introduction

Susan Atkins was a member of the infamous ‘Mason Family’, where she was convicted of murdering eight people under the orders of Charles Mason.

How Old was Susan Atkins when She Died?

She was given the death sentence and lived the rest of her life from a jail cell until she died on September 24, 2009 at 61 (Jensen, 2011).

The Attachment Theory, written by John Bowlby in 1988, is based on early adolescents and their relationships with parental figures. This theory demonstrates how these individuals seek out close relationships to their caregivers (secure attachments), and what happens when they are unable to seek such relationships (insecure attachments) (Bowlby, 1973).

This paper will show the insecure relationships Susan Atkins had in her adolescence and how Bowlby’s Attachment Theory shaped her to become closely connected to Charles Mason, which made her more inclined to be part of his ‘family’ and commit heinous crimes. Multiple peer-reviewed articles apply attachment theory to workplace environments and organizations, which can elicit insecure attachments and therefore lead to delinquency and the need to feel appreciated and cared for. These findings will be linked to the history of Susan Atkins and how she was fully devoted to the Manson Family cult.

Explanation Of Case

During Atkin’s time with the Mason Family, she adopted the name ‘Sadie Mae Glutz’, and developed a very close connection with Mason, where she felt that she knew what love was because of him: ‘Getting hit by the man you love is no different than making love to him . . . Charlie gives me what I need’ (Watkins, 1979). The main income of money for the Mason Family came from drug dealings, where Atkins and various other women would act as ‘entertainment’ for prospective and regular buyers who would come to their farm called the Spahn Movie Ranch, located in South California. While at the farm, Manson’s ideology revolved around the idea of ‘Helter Skelter’, which was described as: ‘an apocalyptic battle in which blacks would rise up against their white oppressors and kill them’ (Jensen, 2011). He also would preach to his followers, describing how this war will benefit the family: ‘At the end of this war, family members would be made into gods and eventually rule the Earth when blacks realized that they could not do it themselves’ (Jensen, 2011). During this time, all his followers believed every word Mason had said and would follow every order he gave, including Atkins.

Over time, the followers of the Spahn Movie Ranch would escalate their crimes from theft to murder. The Mason Family’s first target was Gary Hinman, who was alleged to have a large inheritance coming soon. Charles Mason ordered Atkins and other family members to go meet with Hinman, where they murdered him furiously when it was found out that he was not going to inherit money from anyone. Once Manson got a taste of murder, he decided to select more targets to ‘take money from. . . and kill them’ (Jensen, 2011). Atkins and other fellow family members would assist Mason with murdering other victims such as Voytek Frykowski, Leno & Rosemary LaBianca and Sharon Tate. After relocating to Death Valley, the Mason Family Ranch got raided, with Atkins arrested and placed into custody (Jensen, 2011).

Even while Atkins was placed in prison she was still loyal to Charles Mason as she would testify that she had been involved in a small part in the murders that took place. Additionally, Atkins along with two other family members, Krenwinkel, and Van Houten showed their love for Mason while they were on trial for first degree murder: ‘The three girls shaved their heads and carved an ‘X’ in their foreheads, and continually disrupted the courtroom with giggling in order to show solidarity and loyalty to Mason’ (Jensen, 2011). It was only until after the final trial, the Mason family cut all contact with Atkins, she would later re-transform herself into a ‘born-again Christian’, saving the lives of her fellow convicts and was rewarded for her efforts accordingly. Atkins was considered a ‘model prisoner’ to inmates and personnel who knew her up until she died of a brain tumor on September 24, 2009 (Jensen, 2011).

Criminal’s Background

Susan Atkins Childhood & Family

Susan Denise Atkins, born in San Gabriel, California, had a very gruesome childhood. She was always considered lesser in comparison to her brothers, Michael and Steven, who her parents always showed favoritism towards. In addition, her parents were alcoholics, and her father would allow Atkins to be sexually abused by his peers. To make matters worse, Atkins was not only abused by random family friends of her father, but she also would get molested by her own brother, Michael. Atkin’s family dynamic took an additional turn for the worse when her mother died of cancer when she was 14 years old. Relatives of Atkins would look after her along with her brothers during this tragic moment, but with the piling hospital bills and the stress from losing a family member, her relationship with her father worsened as he sold the family house and began to drink even more heavily than before. Eventually, her father left her brother, Steven, with Atkins, forcing her to take care of him by herself while her other brother, Michael, moved out of the house to join the Navy (Jensen, 2011).

Atkin’s horrifying childhood left her feeling depressed and isolated by her peers. At school, she was seen as a ‘self-conscious, quiet girl’, where she would join the glee club and choir to express herself. (Jensen, 2011). However, when she turned 18 years old, she decided to drop out of high school, leave her family and move to San Francisco to pursue various jobs to support herself. Atkins turned to drugs such as LSD and marijuana to help escape from her depression that was a result of her family problems. This is when she met Charles Manson; while she was hanging out with ‘the drug and hippie crowd in Haight-Ashbury’ (Jensen, 2011). During this time, Atkins and Manson became very close and once her house got raided by the police a few weeks later, Atkins decided to join the Mason Family to Los Angeles, where they had planned a summer road trip together (Jensen, 2011).

Explanation Of Theory

The Attachment Theory, written by John Bowlby, depicts how adolescence relationships, especially with parental figures, can contribute to how adolescents develop relationship are created in their adult life. Bowlby hypothesized that infants are born with an instinct attraction and connection to their adult caregiver, which can be altered due to the infant’s experience with the caregiver (Robertson et al., 2018). Bowlby’s study concluded that when children are close to their caregiver, they felt completely safe in their environment. However, when infants are separated from their parental figures they feel a sense in insecurity (ie. anxiety) and try to recover the attachment through various means, such as monitoring, searching, or crying (Richards et al., 2011).

There are three different types of attachment written by Bowlby: secure, avoidant, and anxious-ambivalent (Robertson et al., 2018). In a secure attachment, the adolescent sees the parent as a ‘secure base’, which gives the child a sense of security. This type of attachment is developed by the mother’s behavior: ‘The mother in this pattern can nourish the child physically and emotionally, she will comfort him when he is distressed, and she will reassure him when he is frightened. She will be there for her child when called upon’ (Bowlby, 1988). Common techniques for the mother to develop a secure attachment are ‘attunement, empathy, affective resonance, gaze sharing, entrained vocal rhythms, and mutually shared pleasure primarily mediated by the right front brain and associated with positive affective states’ (Snyder et al., 2003). When a child experiences avoidant attachment from their caregiver, there is little connection and little or no response whether the caregiver is there or not. They tend to hide their anxiety and focus on other things that are not bothering them (Lang et al., 2016). In some cases, the child ignores or avoids the caregiver when they are reunited (Zeanah et al., 2011). When a child feels an anxious/ambivalent towards their parental figure, they experience stress, anger, discomfort, and have difficulty coping without their attachment figure (Lang et al., 2016). Adolescents that have an insecure (avoidant and anxious/ambivalent) attachments tend to have social, psychological, neurological problems as they grow into adults (Snyder et al., 2012). To summarize, attachment theory suggests that:

‘(a) Human beings are wired to connect with one another emotionally, in intimate relationships; (b) there is a powerful influence on children’s development by the way they are treated by their parents, especially by their mothers; and (c) a theory of development pathways can explain later tendencies in relationship based on such early experiences’ (Snyder et al, 2012).

When adolescents have a secure attachment to their caregiver, it can lead to beneficial results (healthy relationships) while insecure attachments present developmental risks for said child.

Application Of Theory To Case

Susan Atkins obviously had insecure attachments when growing up; her whole family was extremely abusive towards her. With her negative relationship with her family, she developed an insecure attachment towards them, leading her to join a cult, a place where she finally felt wanted and loved. This concept is prevalent in today’s society; not just in cults. There are multiple peer-reviewed articles that apply attachment theory and how insecure attachment can shape a person negatively. For example, a study written by Robertson et al. goes explicitly into detail about abusive supervision and how it affects the workplace. Their findings found when management became hostile towards their employees (public ridicule and overall rudeness), the turnover rate would increase, and employees would act more negatively in their work environment. Robertson et al. concluded that by reducing abusive behaviour, it, in turn, reduced employee hardship and made them more eager to work (Robertson et al., 2018). This paper applies to Atkin’s case as her family gave her a ‘hostile work environment’. With the sexual abuse and violence Atkins experienced, she decided to leave her family at the earliest opportunity possible without looking back. She had an anxious/ambivalent attachment towards her family, so she decided to ‘quit’ and proceeded to join a family of her own choosing, the Charles Manson family. Instead of acting hostile towards Atkins, like her biological family, Manson acted kindly towards her, making her more susceptible to whatever orders he gave her. Manson gave Atkins the ‘positive working environment’ she needed in order to do his bidding for him, such as eight murders.

Another paper linked to attachment theory in the workplace was written by Richards et al., where they would conduct two studies: one where they ‘adapted and validated an established measure of adult attachment in romantic relationships to assess individual attachment in a general, context-free manner’ and another where they ‘drew on attachment theory to develop and test hypotheses regarding relations between attachment and work-related behaviours, including support seeking, emotional regulation, organizational citizen behaviour, counterproductive work behaviour, and turnover intentions’ (Richards et al., 2011). Richards et al.’s findings were consistent with insecure attachments as described by Bowlby:

‘Our results are generally consistent with attachment theory in that avoidant individuals tend to be self-reliant and to disengage form affiliation with others by suppressing negative emotions and not seeking support to deal with work difficulties, whereas anxious individuals tend to display prosocial behaviour and more likely to think about quitting their job’ (Richards et al., 2011).

Once again, this applies to Atkin’s case as she developed an insecure. avoidant attachment towards her family. Just like the avoidant individuals in Richards et al.’s study, Atkin became disengaged and self-reliant as she moved to San Francisco without the help of her family. She had to drop out of high school and take on various jobs just to survive on her own. Atkins possibly also felt an anxious attachment towards her family, as she ‘quit’ her family (had no contact with them), when she left for San Francisco. In addition, Richards et al.’s results concluded that ‘organizations can implement practices that encourage positive relationships between organization members, may contribute to the meeting of affiliative needs and increase the work effectiveness of anxiously attached individuals’ (Richards et al. 2011). Not only did Atkins had a positive relationship with Manson, she also maintained close relationships with other members of the ‘family’. For example, Atkins would accompany Charles ‘Tex’ Watson and others to assist with murdering victims that got in Charles Manson’s way. Susan Atkins previous ‘anxious attachment’ made her more inclined to follow orders (ie. increase work effectiveness) since Charles Manson gave Atkins a ‘positive environment’. This environment was much better than the abusive household Atkins was in when she was a child, therefore it encouraged her to forgo with these felonies.

References

1. Bowlby, J. (1973). Attachment and loss: Vol.2. Separation: Anxiety and anger. New York, NY: Basic Books
2. Bowlby, J. (1988). A secure base: Parent-child attachment and healthy human development. New York: Basic Books.
3. Jensen, V. (2011). Women criminals: An encyclopedia of people and issues. Retrieved from https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.proxy.lib.sfu.ca.
4. Lac, A., Crano, W.D., Berger, D.E., & Alvaro, E.M. (2013). Attachment Theory and Theory of Planned Behaviour: An Integrative Model Prediction Underage Drinking. Developmental Psychology, 49(8), pp. 1579-1590.
5. Lang, K., Bovenschen, I., Gabler, S., Zimmerman, J., Nowacki, K., Kliewer, J., & Spangler, G. (2016). Foster children’s attachment security in the first year after placement: A longitudinal study of predictors. Early Childhood Research Quarterly
6. Richards, R.A., & Schat, A.C.H. (2011). Attachment at (Not to) Work: Applying Attachment Theory to Explain Individual Behaviour in Organizations. Journal of Applied Psychology, 96(1), pp. 169-182.
7. Robertson, J.L., Dionsi, A.M., & Barling, J. (2018). Linking Attachment Theory to Abusive supervision. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 33(2), pp. 214-228.
8. Snyder, R., Shapiro, S., & Treleaven, D. (2012). Attachment Theory and Mindfulness. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 21(5), pp. 709-717.
9. Watkins, P., & Soledad, G. (1979). My Life with Charles Manson. New York: Bantam Books.
10. Zeanah, C.H., Berlin, L.J., & Boris, N.W. (2011). Practitioner Review: Clinical application of attachment theory and research for infants and young children. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 58(8), pp. 819-833.

Essay on Charles Manson Serial Killer

The Charles Manson Murder Trial by Michael J. Pellowski is a book going through the events, investigation, and court case of The Charles Manson Murders. It goes through the crimes of Charles Manson and his cult which he called “The Family”. This book also talks about his odd thought process and why he went through with his plan. It also portrays a little bit of his traumatic childhood that made him the way that he is.

The eight brutal murders happened in the summer of 1969. The bodies were found at three different scenes, a Malibu Beach house, a house in Beverly Hills, and a house in the Los Feliz district. The victims were six men and two women. One of the women was eight months pregnant at the time of her death. Gary Hinman, Steve Parent, Voytek Frykowski, Abigail Folger, Jay Sebring, Sharon Tate, Leno LaBianca, and Rosemary LaBianca were the eight victims. The victims were brutally murdered. One body was discovered impaled with a fork. Others were choked with plastic rope. The murder scenes all had bloody messages smeared on the wall. For example, the LaBianca house had “Death to all Pigs” written on the wall using the blood of one of the victims.

The first section of the book goes into a very detailed description of Charles’s childhood. The section talks about how his mom was a drunk prostitute, how he lived with various family members, and how he was in and out of boys’ homes. Charles lived with his aunt and uncle. His uncle believed Charles was too timid, so he tried to fix him. “He sent Charles to school dressed as a girl. The purpose was to humiliate the boy so he would fight anyone who dared to insult him” (pg. 16). Charles ran from the law his entire life. He was put into foster care and ran away. During his time on the run, he had to commit various crimes to survive. “He was caught during one of his many burglaries and sent to a juvenile center in Indianapolis, India” (pg. 16). Charles was in and out of these centers and eventually ended up in prison.

The book also shows how Charles found his cult “The Family”. Charles Manson never really had a family, so he took it upon himself to form his own. Once he was released from prison he went on the streets of California and found young women and musicians to join his group. Once he started the group he began to gain followers. “The young followers enjoyed listening to Charles Manson talk about his predictions for society and the world” (pg. 22). The group lived in an old school bus for a bit, but then found an abandoned group of buildings. “Squeaky Fromme” discovered the perfect place: an empty group of buildings known as the Spahn Movie Ranch” (pg. 24).

Charles Manson had odd thoughts. His ideas were peculiar and psychotic. He and his followers considered him as a prophet or savior” He also had strange views on murder. “He thought killing and death were a part of nature’s laws. According to Manson it was all right to eliminate people for a purpose” (pg.25). “He believed that murder was not a crime; it was a natural act” (pg.25).

Charles had a plan called “Helter Skelter”, named after a Beatles song. He believed that the Beatles’s song had secret messages that only he could decode. “He claimed the lyric ‘Blackbird arise’ was a call for a race war in America” (pg. 26). Thus he believed the war would start with a series of murders. Charles thought that only he and The Family would survive, and African Americans would go to him for guidance. “Manson believed that he would seize control of the world, and rule the earth” (pg. 28). He was so eager to gain power he attempted to start the war himself. His committing these murders was his way of starting the war faster.

Manson and his “Family” committed eight murders. What every murder scene had in common was the bloody messages on the wall. Some Wrote “Political Piggy” or “Death to all Pigs.” These messages were written to try to frame an African American rights group. He wanted the media to think black people were to blame for them. At the scene of the LaBianca murders, Charles stole a wallet from the house. “Charles Manson stopped at a gas station in an African American neighborhood